California electricity goes green; Ratepayers have less green

And California wants to increase “green” electricity by 65% over the next eight years.

Climatewire reports:

California’s largest utilities have hit or are close to reaching a mandate that they generate 20 percent of their power from renewable sources, a major milestone as the state pushes toward the country’s most ambitious green energy goal.

In filings with the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC), San Diego Gas & Electric Co. (SDG&E), Southern California Edison, and Pacific Gas and Electric Co. (PG&E) said that they had added large amounts of wind, solar and other renewable power capacity in 2011.

Edison surged to the front of the group, passing the 21 percent mark for renewable power. SDG&E hit 20.8 percent, while PG&E reached 19.4 percent green energy.

“It’s about 10 years since the legislation was passed that set the 20 percent goal for 2010,” said John Geesman, a California Energy Commission member from 2002 to 2008. “The fact that the utilities are now on the verge of accomplishing that target is quite significant in terms of being able to meet the 33 percent target in 2020″…

California is tied with Maine for the ninth most expensive retail electricity prices. Note the blue state nature of expensive electricity.

1. Hawaii (36.21 cents per Kilowatt-hour)
2. Connecticut (18.17 )
   Alaska (17.76)

3. New York (17.31)
4. New Hampshire (16.69)
5. Vermont (16.23)
6. New Jersey (15.93)
7. Massachusetts (15.37)
8. Maine, California (15.29)